Hartington hopes to land new employer for vacant plant

Leaders in Hartington are working to lure a large company to the northeast Nebraska town to take over a vacant factory.

The city council has voted to apply for a half-million dollar community development block grant that would provide a loan fund for a potential new employer.

Chris Miller, president of Hartington Economic Development, can’t name the company — yet.

“It’s going to be a big plus for the community and for the surrounding area and definitely something we’ve been looking forward to for the last five or six years to get a manufacturing business back into that empty plant,” Miller says. “It’ll be a huge plus for the community.”

The total cost of the project is estimated at just over $1.6-million dollars, with most of that coming from the new company. Miller says they hope to nail down the details soon.

“We will be looking at a 60 to 90-day window here before we have total confirmation that the business will be moving to Hartington,” he says. The company is planning on an initial workforce of about 20 workers.